Chicago’s Most Beautiful Wedding Venues for Couples Who Love Architecture and History
Are you starting your planning journey, and looking for the right wedding venue, or just dreaming of the future? Either way, we’re here for it! It’s a joy to step into the planning process with you, however far along the timeline you are.
It's no secret that we love historic venues, and ones with interesting architectural features, whether historical or modern - so we're here to share some of the best ones Chicago has to offer.
For couples seeking to get married in a design-led venue in Chicago, these ten venues offer grandeur, history and elegance. We love venues that are grounded in time; that sense of transporting you back into another era that you can truly feel.
These are our top 10 favorites and what we love about their design:
Chicago Athletic Association
This 1893 Venetian Gothic landmark built in 1893 (to coincide with the World’s Fair in Chicago) was open only to the elite for 122 years. You can now hold your wonderful celebrations here!
Painstakingly restored, this is a stunning historical events space, in an urban setting - offering that perfect Chicago backdrop to root your event in your surroundings. Right in the heart of downtown Chicago, it’s easy to access all the city has to offer - but it’s also right across from Millennium Park, offering you a breath of fresh air and nature in the midst of such an urban hub.
Originally an elite athletic and social club, this beloved landmark (now part of the Hyatt) offers seven unique event spaces and 240 guest rooms. Every turn offers original stained glass windows, bas-relief wood carvings, and restored marble staircases, all cleverly restored to sit against the hotel’s contemporary comfort.
Perfect for a single day or multi-day celebration, the hotel’s calendar of events includes art exhibitions, author talks, live music, wellness, fitness classes, markets, seasonal celebrations, workshops and more. It’s a great choice for a rich weekend filled with Chicagoan fun and flair.
What we love about the design: A historic Venetian Gothic landmark building across from the iconic Millenium Park on Michigan Avenue.
University Club of Chicago
The University Club of Chicago, voted best city club in Chicago and fourth in the whole country, was founded in 1887 by university grads looking to support literature and the arts.
Architects and UCCO members William Holabird and Martin Roche designed this Gothic skyscraper at 76 E. Monroe Street, after Roche spent weeks at Oxford University in the UK immersing himself in their traditional collegiate architecture. Fellow member Frederic Bartlett designed the stained glass windows and interior decoration. It has been UCCO’s home ever since construction was complete in 1909 (a year later than planned, which is why you’ll see “1908” etched into the woodwork in the Lobby’s grand staircase)!
Classic architecture and sweeping city views make this exclusive venue worth its membership requirements. Spend every moment of your celebration here, from bridal prep through ceremony and into cocktail hour and your party, with so many diverse spaces to create wonderful wedding photography and unique moments for your guests.
What we love about the design: Collegiate Gothic grandeur with Old World European elegance
Union League Club
A Union League Club Chicago wedding can host up to 425 seated guests - but would be equally perfect for an intimate event, with their large and varied selection of event spaces. Home to the Union League Club of Chicago since 1879, the club oozes history, style and glamour.
The staff and service here are unparalleled, and membership is not required. Soaring ceilings, elaborate moldings and crystal chandeliers dazzle against the navy walls, giving any event aesthetic a historical grounding in grandeur and formality. There are no exterior spaces, but your photographer will take you out into the Chicago cityscape for amazing shots if that’s part of your plan.
With a century of immersion in culture, the art collection here is something to behold. The venue houses both American and European artworks, including an 1872 landscape by the radical French Impressionist Claude Monet.
What we love about the design: A classic Beaux-Arts and Georgian Revival Style building.
Theater on the Lake
This truly unique wedding venue combines Chicago’s iconic skyline with natural immersion, all set in an industrial chic modern space. Set lakeside on Fullerton Avenue and Lake Shore Drive, this Prairie-style historic building was designed in 1913 and constructed in 1920. It’s an iconic Chicagoan architectural treasure.
This versatile space works for events large and small, and makes for an easy transition from indoor to outdoor, cocktail hour to wedding breakfast.
If you’re looking to use exterior spaces, this is a dream; Lake Michigan and Chicago’s skyline serve as the most dramatic backdrop, and create beautiful Golden Hour scenery for your photography gallery. Exposed steel beams and expansive windows make for stylish, chic and minimal interiors, which are the perfect canvas for aesthetics both contemporary and bold, and minimal and reserved.
What we love about the design: A historic Prairie-school aesthetic blended with an open, modern industrial interior
The Old Post Office
This incredible Chicago landmark has been beautifully restored and transformed into one of our favorite Chicago wedding venues. Its 1920s Art Deco style combines clean lines and light with that characteristic detailing to create such a perfectly unique venue, sitting right above Ida B Wells Drive in downtown.
Although there are a variety of spaces that might suit your aesthetic, the Historic Lobby is the standout. Floor-to-ceiling marble is warmed by the radiant gold leaf ceiling tiles and generous windows, brass finishes, and original chandeliers. This space can accommodate a guest list of 700 seated, so it’s great for larger guestlists, too.
Head to the roof for the Meadow and the Penthouse. The Meadow offers over three acres of curated gardens with covered space and a bar, allowing the outside in, at such a central urban venue. The Penthouse allows the party to carry on into the night, accommodating 300 guests for cocktails and dancing.
What we love about the design: An incredible 1920s Art Deco structure with gold-leaf accents and grandeur
The Chicago Cultural Center
This iconic space exudes timeless elegance. Originally Chicago’s first public library in 1897, this opulent cultural landmark is renowned for its Beaux-Arts design.
Right in the loop at the heart of downtown Chicago, the Cultural Center truly is an architectural masterpiece of breathtaking interiors. Two incredible stained glass domes are what make this historic venue so architecturally magnificent, alongside perfect views over Millennium Park just opposite. Its grandeur begins with its stately exterior, ensuring your event’s vision begins from the moment your guests pull up. But the aesthetic resonance of this place only builds as you enter inside.
One of the venue’s two iconic domes is the world’s largest Tiffany glass dome. 25 Tiffany glass chandeliers grace the ceilings of the Preston Bradley Hall, its resplendent arches sparkling with mosaics, making for a space altogether opulent.
The GAR Hall and Rotunda meanwhile, accommodating 200 seated as opposed to Preston Bradley Hall’s 330, have been newly and sensitively renovated. Soaring walls rise to a coffered ceiling in the GAR (Grand Army of the Republic) Hall, and the Rotunda showcases the second glass-domed ceiling - the perfect entryway into the Hall to build the power and spectacle your event’s story can tell at this venue.
What we love about the design: A lavish Neo-Classical and Beaux-Arts aesthetic, highlighted by the world’s largest Tiffany glass dome, white Carrara marble staircases, and glittering Favrile glass mosaics.
Chicago Illuminating Company
As you walk through the tall, red brick walls and gate, you’re welcomed into an enchanted space in the heart of the city. This indoor/outdoor event space of a garden plus loft venue is a refined canvas upon which your aesthetic really can shine.
The semi-covered glass tent on the garden terrace allows natural light to flood in, and as the day turns to night you’ll see the stars come out and the city lights begin to twinkle. It’s the perfect solution for a ‘safe’ al fresco event - you feel outdoors, but with none of the weather-related risk! Optional open sides continue this indoor-outdoor theme, whilst optional drapes and side panels again solve any problems posed by adverse weather conditions.
For us, what makes this such a special wedding venue is that rare indoor-outdoor flow in an urban context, alongside the stylish, minimalist blank-canvas it provides architecturally. The atmosphere feels high-end, but is totally open-ended in terms of what aesthetic you could bring.
What we love about the design: An industrial-chic aesthetic that blends urban loft character with a romantic European-style garden courtyard.
The Langham
Chicago’s newest luxury hotel the Langham is timelessly and luxuriously elegant, from its chandeliered Devonshire Ballroom to the Chicago Riverwalk plaza. Right next to the Chicago River, the array of event spaces the Langham offers, all within one of Chicago’s most prominent landmarks, makes it an amazing choice for a wedding venue.
The building was created by the pioneering architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and his Mid-Century Modern style provides an iconic ‘less is more’ feeling of Midcentury formalism within - the final skyscraper he completed.
The Langham occupies the first 13 floors of this legendary space, and the architect’s attention to scale and dimension creates such graceful and proportioned interiors that are a dream to design within.
Within these 13 floors, the hotel provides the epitome of grand hotel romance - as is The Langham’s tradition - across ballrooms and event spaces alike. The soaring ceilings and river views of the spacious Devonshire Ballroom can accommodate up to 312 guests, whilst the smaller Cambridge offers floor-to-ceiling windows in a space fit for 225, and the Junior Ballroom Chelsea which offers a slightly smaller event space.
What we love about the design: Midcentury modernism, minimalist structural clarity, and understated luxury.
Cafe Brauer
Cafe Brauer in Lincoln Park is architecturally stunning. As well as the timeless Prairie school venue, you can make the most of the honeycomb - a geometric, arching outdoor space set amongst meadows of wildflowers against the Chicago skyline.
Completed in 1908 and included on the National Register of Historic Places, the Brauer offers a soaring Great Hall as its centrepiece, with light flooding in from its vaulted roof windows, Tiffany-inspired chandeliers, mosaics, and stained glass.
Warm, sand-coloured brick, generous triple height space and plenty of glass create a statuesque central venue space, whilst we truly love the opportunity to use the Honeycomb at Lincoln Park Zoo for outdoor ceremonies.
What we love about the design: A historic Prairie School-style landmark that features earth-toned elegance, soaring vaulted skylit ceilings, and Tiffany-inspired fixtures. It blends warm woodwork, stained-glass windows, and green-beamed framing with open air loggias overlooking the nature boardwalk and city skyline.
The Rookery
The Rookery Building, designed by renowned architects Daniel Burnham and John Wellborn Root, is a Chicago landmark and architectural treasure. Stunning architectural detailing coupled with natural light and their grand atrium space make for an aesthetically majestic venue.
One of the most architecturally significant buildings in the city, this downtown icon was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970 and designated a Chicago Landmark in 1972. Combining the architectural renown of Burnham and Root with Frank Lloyd Wright’s elegant skylit lobby redesign of 1905, the building exudes timeless elegance through meticulous renovation and maintenance, allowing it to continue to shine in all of its glory.
A banquet hall venue, the Rookery was initially one of the world’s tallest buildings, and continues to offer a serene space imbued with history. The circular event space offers double-height ceilings and a first floor balcony, allowing events a little versatility, and the famous iron spiral Oriel staircase is an amazing spot for photography, winding from the 12th to the second floor.
What we love about the design: An icon in the center of Chicago's downtown Financial District, the Rookery is an architectural masterpiece.
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We’re committed to our city, and shouting about all of the incredible venue spaces it offers. Whether modern or historic, there are so many perfect places in which your spectacular celebration can unfold!
If you’re planning a Chicago wedding, get in touch with us today to begin your planning journey. Let’s create a love story filled with all of the intricacies of you, set within the history of the city you love.
